Sexual Assault Survivors Confront Pro-Kavanaugh Senator In An Elevator

At 1:30 p.m. Friday, the US Senate Judiciary Committee was supposed to take a vote on whether to recommend that the full Senate confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court.

Then, before there was any more discussion, the committee’s chairman, US Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, quickly held a vote on Kavanaugh.

And Thursday, following Kavanaugh’s angry performance before the Senate Judiciary Committee, when he also claimed the accusations were part of a left-wing conspiracy to keep him off the high court, Trump tweeted his praise.

Republican Whip John Cornyn told reporters as he left that the next order of business would be a vote on Saturday at noon on a motion to proceed to debate on the nomination.

United States senator Jeff Flake has been confronted in a lift by two women who say they have been sexually assaulted.

President Trump, who himself had several accusations of sexual misconduct against him, vigorously backed Kavanaugh and accused the Democrats of trying “to destroy a wonderful man”.

Whether or not Kavanaugh is confirmed by the full Senate likely hinges on three Senators: West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, a Democrat, and Maine’s Susan Collins, and Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, both of whom are Republicans.

“That’s what you’re telling all women in America – that they don’t matter, they should just keep it to themselves”, one of the protesters shouted at Flake, a frequent Trump critic who looked shaken by the encounter. In addition, Republicans are highly motivated not to delay the vote further, because waiting longer would mean Kavanaugh would not be on the bench in time to hear some pivotal October cases.

Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, the senior Democrat on the committee, has said he believes Ford’s allegations are true and that there should be an FBI investigation prior to a vote. Kavanaugh’s supporters see her as a villain weaponizing a deeply personal matter for partisan gain at the last moments of the Washington, DC, appeals court judge’s confirmation process. And discussing specifics of his deal with GOP leaders, Flake said that McConnell had agreed not to hold a vote on cloture until a final Federal Bureau of Investigation report had been released.

Ford says Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her while the two were in high school.

Kavanaugh angrily, tearfully and “unequivocally” denied any wrongdoing involving Ford and other women who have made claims of sexual misconduct in recent days. They also want interviews with other accusers and witnesses in the case, some of whom have already said they want to talk with investigators. “Judge Kavanaugh used as much political rhetoric as my Republican colleagues”, Feinstein said.

He said the “Timmy” in the calendar – Tim Gaudette – lived in a townhouse 10 miles from the country club and not a single-family home like the one Ford described in her testimony.

Judge has said he does not recall any such incident. As a retiring Republican, with no public plans to face GOP voters soon, Flake has emerged this year as a vocal and biting Trump critic and an advocate for bipartisan cooperation in Washington, even has he largely votes with his party.

“I’m not questioning that Dr. Ford may have been sexually assaulted by some person in some place at some time”, Kavanaugh said in his opening remarks.